Eclipse prep, pinloom pieces and spring walk

Everyone's worried about people driving while viewing, using wrong glasses, forgetting they've got headlights (!). Township lawyers covering Plainsboro's finest.

 

Library-provided official viewing glasses, see the seal of approval. Or hippo of approval.

Verdict: nice, glad I had glasses, sun went to a tiny sliver, but it didn't get very dark. It lasted about half an hour. I took a picture of the only foliage around, and caught some tiny pale crescents, eclipse shadows. They're tiny, on top of leaf shadows, bottom right, and a few others, once you get your eye in 

It was a nice time, sitting on the deck, drinking tea and studying the sun now and then to see the progress. It was moving but not upsetting like the last time, when I was in a big crowd. 

This time, waving at neighbors all watching and doing things with pieces of card, was a friendly time. Happy to see the sun back after late afternoon clouds obscured some of the action.

Current reading on Kindle 

Fast read, set in the seventies onward, a friendship between teenage girls becoming life long. I don't know much more yet, but it strikes me as good beach (in my case, deck) reading.

Morning pinloom weaving yielded the much improved piece on the right. Seen l to r 

Blue piece, made on pins stuck in cardboard to see if I liked doing it, then first try on real pinloom, wobbly little effort, then ta-da, today's much improved version.  This has promise.

As you see, it's a learned skill. After you know the principle, your fingers have to learn the execution.

And I thought you'd like to see how it just lifts off the loom, no finishing required. Then you get busy warping again.

The morning walk yielded blossom 

And carpets of violets underfoot 

And I followed a tapping sound and found a Northern flicker busy excavating for a nest. You might catch her here. She matches the tree pretty well, so you might need to just take my word on it. Again.  

Now I know where to watch for nesting and maybe hatching. It's right above the hollow log where I find the best fungi.

A minute later she'd flown and I saw the mate, maybe coming to do his share 

Happy day, lovely sunshine here. Most of the time, that is.

Flicker sighting and other signs of life

Since this was the forecast for the afternoon

which did come to pass, I walked in the morning.  I followed the hammering noise of  a woodpecker in the dead tree at the end of the houses, and found a  northern flicker busy working on a nest site, too busy to worry about me as I watched. 

That tiny white dot high up there on the left is his rump as he digs down into the cavity.. Flickers often feed near the ground around old tree stumps with insect life, and you can spot them in flight from the flash of white rump feathers. But they nest safely high, in nests they excavate in dead trees.

This is how they look close up, not my picture

So I'll be keeping a lookout as I walk that way in the next couple of weeks to see if they're feeding young.

And the trees are blossoming out

Closer to home, there's the current display of daffodils 

And waiting in the wings, the last group ready to burst out

The henbit which the landscapers totally tore out last year is

back, undaunted, happy sight.

Then, after the storms arrived, changing my plan about going for ice cream at the handmade shop, I tried my hand at a home version of soft serve tutti fruti, using that heavy cream powder, beaten up with water, nuts and fruit added

Put it in the freezer for an hour

And ended up with a sort of very nice frozen dessert thing, pretty good sub for the ice cream shop version.

The not so good news yesterday is that neighbor Jackie, who's been living next door since  hurricane Maria forced her to leave Puerto Rico, is moving to Florida. Today. I didn't realize it was this soon. 

She can't wait to have her own place again, in a climate that suits her much better. So she and kitties Maui and Finny are driving down starting today. Sigh. I'll miss her. But she's so happy she finally got set up after a previous plan didn't work out, I can't help but be glad for her. A bit sorry for myself, too.

Today's paper weaving if the glue's dry, knitting, second sock well under way, and Misfits box all being well.

I see Ukraine did indeed sink the huge Russian battleship, even the Russian military have announced it. It's cluttering up the bottom of the sea. A definite dent in the invasion 

Happy day everyone.